Despite the fact that I realized today as the beginning of May, it didn’t occur to me that May 1 = Labor Day = today. Good grief. Headpalm! Exactly a year ago, I was in Shenzhen China with my friends, and we spent our May 1 vacation going around parts of the city, most especially to the Windows of the World. It was one of the best places I have visited so far, considering it had all the wonderful places around the world, in just one area.
Looking back, it makes me realize how badly I miss my “Zhuhai” family. Those 6 weeks in China last summer were one of the best trips I’ve ever had. I was free, independent, able to study and learn in an open environment, and best of all, I was with a great group of friends. Recently, I’ve been discussing with my parents that I’ve actually considered the possibility of me taking a teaching job in China (or Taiwan or HK). China being my main goal, though I’m despairing a bit at China banning blogs such as these (and plurk) which I cannot live without. Either way, it’s the best possible opportunity for me to learn and earn at the same time. Yes, deduct one letter and my learning experience can also become my earning experience. That’s if, I don’t find a scholarship to take further studies in that area.
Thing is, I don’t have the funds to have my graduate studies paid for, most especially not abroad (with the cost of tuition + living expenses and whatnot) so unless I find a scholarship or a job, my parents aren’t letting me off. I don’t have much of a choice, do I? Staying here in the Philippines would be good, but I wouldn’t be able to learn Mandarin. And with my degree, that’s the first thing I have to get better at if I plan on working here.
I still have a year, but it’ll be the longest and shortest year of my life. It’ll be the year, the rift between the real adulthood (aka working life), and naive adulthood (aka student’s life).
For now, I leave you with a poem I finished writing an hour and a half ago, whose inspiration came while I was in the shower. Yes, a weird place to be inspired.
Unslumbered
Oh cruel is the waking morn
whose appearance looms just beyond
and in whose rising one remembers
the cruelty of a night filled
with tossing and turning
Oh woe the bright sun
whose rays shine behind the clouds
good-bye to the moon’s white glow
and a promise of endless dreams
as limitless as the star-filled sky
Oh detest the crowing rooster
whose sounds awaken to a new day
his greeting to the dawn is another farewell
to the silent night where everyone but one
slumbers
(c) Christa Uymatiao 2009
